Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 198 › Conversation 198-006

Nixon phone call with Kissinger on Vietnam War and Military force

Tuesday, July 25, 1972 · 10:09 AM–10:18 AM ET · Camp David Hard Wire · 4 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Kissinger, Henry A.Conversation198-006 on Tape 198StartTuesday, July 25, 1972 at 10:09 AMEndTuesday, July 25, 1972 at 10:18 AMRecording deviceCamp David Hard WireSourceNixon Library record for 198-006 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger discussed the ongoing Vietnam conflict, emphasizing the necessity of using sufficient force to counter North Vietnamese aggression. The pair also addressed trade negotiations with Japan, expressing frustration over public comments made by staff member Everly regarding the talks' progress. Nixon directed that administration officials maintain discretion with the press and ordered better preparation for upcoming trade discussions.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello?
Well, then we left soon into the day.
There's quite a bit of hard fighting in the Vietnam area.
I know we should do the same.
Let's go.
I'm getting that.
Get them a little bit.
It's your area.
Okay.
I'll get it.
Your area, I guess, has got out all right.
I saw that.
The New York Times played it fair.
Let me tell you, I don't think that the country is one damn about these guys.
If they ever get it, if they push in any further, and I'll say, no, look, if the choice comes, if they put anti-aircraft guns on there and start shooting down American planes, of course, we're not the worst American pilots.
That's right.
You're not going to have to hesitate about anything.
You're doing the right things now, but that's all.
It's got to be, you've got to use the force that's necessary.
You have no question about using it.
I didn't hear that.
I just talked about it.
No, you didn't.
Sure, of course.
Is this the post?
Yeah.
asked me about seeing if you wanted to do anything.
I noticed Everly made a bearish comment about the trade negotiations in Japan, saying they didn't look too good right now.
Progress is disappointing.
Are you watching that thing, or is there anything there we should know about?
The main thing I really want to, I don't want that meeting with, to not going to come off, and we labored to do some analysis, and I was told that maybe this is part of the strategy of the week, but I don't know, but let's look, is there anything there that we should know?
Right.
Yeah.
Well, he shouldn't really, I don't know.
He shouldn't really,
on a mission like this should not be making comments day to day as to how it's going.
Don't you agree?
yeah and uh well he he works hard he does well but my point is all of our people have got to learn the lesson that you don't have to talk to the press every time they ask and you don't give them anything you say well look i'm just not going to talk about these negotiations particularly on this one because you know they've had all this talk about this billion dollar deal now and what we want to get or some kind of a deal at least
Nobody's with Everly, none of your staff people.
Maybe that's a good idea.
Because we want to do this trade thing.
Might send a man out to work, well, working with the ambassadors, all four of us, you know, with us.
Right.
See what we can get in preparing this.
I think we should get it well prepared.
Okay, honey, bye.

NARA Description

On July 25, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 10:09 am to 10:18 am. The Camp David Hard Wire taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 198-006 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 198-6

Date: July 29, 1972
Time: 10:09 am - 10:18 am
Location: Camp David Hard Wire

The President talked with Henry A. Kissinger.

[See Conversation No. 138-5; one item has been withdrawn from this conversation]

Also recorded on July 25, 1972

  • 752-004 9:30 AM · 13 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander P. Butterfield met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:30 am to 9:33 am.
  • 752-005 9:33 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger met in the Oval Office of the White House at an unknown time between 9:33 am and 9:55 am.
  • 198-004 9:54 AM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David from 9:54 am to 10:07 am.
  • 752-006 9:55 AM · 34 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Henry A. Kissinger, and Stephen B. Bull met in the Oval Office of the White House from 9:55 am to 10:35 am.
  • 198-005 10:07 AM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Camp David operator met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:07 am and 10:09 am.
  • 198-007 10:18 AM · 15 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Manolo Sanchez met in the Aspen Lodge study at Camp David at an unknown time between 10:18 am and 10:31 am.
  • 752-007 10:36 AM · 21 min — Stephen B. Bull, Frank C. Coleman, Herbert Stein, Russell E. Train, Arthur F. Sampson, Darrell M. Trent, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John D. Ehrlichman, White House photographer, and President Richard M. Nixon met in the Oval Office of the White House from 10:36 am to 10:57 am.
  • 027-049 10:57 AM · 20 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 10:57 am and 11:00 am.

All 50 conversations from July 25, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 198-006, July 25, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/198-006 (accessed October 12, 2026).